1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric potential therapeutic appliances, and in particular to electric potential therapeutic appliances provided with a waveform shaping device for producing negative ions or reducing ions.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In recent years, actual proof of the effect of negative ions or reducing ions on the human body has accumulated, and rather than applying to health alone, the effect of these ions in terms of medical therapy has also been clearly accumulated. In particular, enhancement of the immunity and natural healing power inherent to humans by using the effect of the action of negative ions is expected to realize effective therapies; accordingly, electric potential therapeutic appliances providing capability to produce negative ions are currently in development.
Japanese unexamined patent laid-open JP 2001-309987A also discloses an electric potential therapeutic appliance having a function for discharging negative ions. In the electric potential therapeutic appliance of JP 2001-309987A, a therapeutic electrode provided for the purpose of electric potential therapeutics comprises a pad containing a multiplicity of holes, a needle electrode and an opposing curved plate electrode inserted in the therapeutic electrode, and corona discharge is made to occur; accordingly, simultaneous with the setting of the electrode pad to a high electric potential compared to the earth and the administering of electric potential therapeutics, the negative ions produced inside the therapeutic electrode are supplied from the holes provided in the pad to the patient through the skin.
Although the production of large amounts of negative ions is sought after in this type of electric potential therapeutic appliance, the benefit thereof in terms of therapy cannot necessarily be guaranteed when, for example, coronal discharge is used to produce large amounts at any cost. The effective intake of electrons or electrical charges produced by an electric potential therapeutic appliance into living organisms in order that these organisms may actually benefit from the effect of negative ions is important in nature.
The qualities of produced negative ions are important with regard to the imparting of these ions to living organisms, and it is preferable that these ions have similar mobility to negative cluster ions occurring as a natural phenomenon in the atmosphere. Here, mobility refers to the speed of ions in an electric field and represents the ease of motion of negative ions; accordingly, when mobility is high, chemical reactions with other substances will occur more readily, and even reduction or alkalization occurs more easily in the atmosphere. Negative ions comprising of cluster ions generally have high mobility, and they are thought to have the corresponding suppressive effect on acidification and oxidation.
Rather than uniformly discharging electrons or electrical charges in order to artificially produce negative ions with high mobility, it is more effective to allow the charge to build up to a certain degree and to then carry out burst-type discharge. Furthermore, negative ions produced in the atmosphere through the use of this intermittent discharge method remain for long periods after the end of discharge and have been observed as having long life spans. It is also known that by using a mechanism expected to efficiently produce negative ions in the atmosphere and directly imparting the produced charges to living organisms, the negative ion effect can be realized in body fluids and benefits in terms of therapy or constitution can be achieved.
These facts are also described in the specification of Japanese patent application 2003-283103 as disclosed by the present applicants. The invention disclosed by the present applicants in the above specification achieved the same effect using a waveform shaping device formed by filling pumice stone masses containing specific amounts of moisture. In this waveform shaping device, it is necessary that the size of the filled pumice stone masses shows the predetermined distribution by adjusting the size of the pumice stone masses, and the electrical characteristics is adjusted to specific values by controlling pressure while monitoring the voltage drop generated between terminals when a container is sealed; accordingly, an experienced operator must spend a considerable amount of time in the production process.